To mark 120 years of friendly Anglo-French relations, Buckingham Palace will be guarded by French troops, during a drill approved by the Monarch – in a historic first.
Rehearsing at Wellington Barracks in London, the French Gendarmerie Nationale is set to parade together on Monday April 8, alongside soldiers of the British Army’s Household Division.
The forecourt of Buckingham Palace will see 32 French soldiers from the Republican Guard of the National Gendarmerie join 40 Guardsmen from F Company Scots Guards to parade the grounds together.
In April of 1904 an agreement known as the Entente Cordiale was decided between the United Kingdom and the French Republic that settled a number of controversial matters and signified a historic understanding and cooperation between France and Britain .
Across the English Channel, French President Macron will attend a guard change in Paris on the same day.
Sixteen soldiers from Number 7 Company Coldstream Guards will join troops from 1er Regiment de la Garde Republicaine to provide the Presidential Guard outside the Elysee Palace.
As reported in the Daily Mail, Squadron Chief Guillaume Dewilde, leading the French detachment said: “I am extremely proud to have been asked to share this moment with our British friends.
“We are like siblings, and to celebrate this moment together is a symbol of the strength of the relationship between our two countries.”
The ceremony, which will take place at 11am on Monday, will see the group of soldiers traditionally relieved by a new detachment of troops in front of an audience of 40 VIPs.
They will be inspected by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the UK Chief of General Staff (CGS), the French Chief of the Army Staff, and the French ambassador to the UK .
The Gendarmerie will be marched on and off the Buckingham Palace forecourt by the Band of the Grenadier Guards, who will also perform both countries’ national anthems and a also a programme of Anglo-French music.
While the Gendarmerie will take part in the ancient ceremony they won’t take the place of their British counterparts in Guarding the King.
That’s a responsibility only afforded to members of the British Armed Forces and Commonwealth troops.
